Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
I thought it might be good to put this up here, since it is 14 years old, and itself reflects earlier discussion. From this you can see that we at BH have been considering this notion for quite some time. Clearly, the last word has not been said. — James…
Hopefully, my commentary on James will be out later this year. But here are a few chiasms for your consideration. I think the James 5 chiasm orginally came from Doug Jordan. The entire book of James is focused on how the pastors and leaders (“brothers”) of the church use their…
In my first post I noted that the parables of Jesus were not simply illustrative stories. They are really nothing like the kind of simple, homely illustrations that preachers often use to explain difficult concepts to their congregations. Just to be clear: there’s nothing wrong with illustrating one’s sermonic statements.…
Ephesians is often treated as a pure type example of the Pauline method that “the indicative preceds the imperative.” But what Paul does first is pray . Simply reading verse 3 and following involves readers in a prayer of thanksgiving to God–and much more so for those listening to the…
Yesterday, I took part with my oldest son in a church-sponsored city outreach project (not because I’m especially prone to such behavior but because my son has a Boy Scout requirement that this would help him meet). Before we were sent out on our various jobs, the leader gave a…
There is a scene in Prince Caspian , the second in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia that helps explain why it is we have four Gospels, that is four accounts of the Good News of Jesus Christ—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It is the account of Lucy’s longed-for experience…
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I’ve read some surprising things in The New Republic : Andrew Sullivan ‘s analysis of the Roman Catholic Church several years ago was very insightful, and Eugene Genovese , reviewing a book on Southern slavery, encouraged TNR ‘s readers to check out the works of James Henley Thornwell. But I’ve…
Air travel requires a reversion to infantile behavior, or at best to behavior characteristic of elementary school kids. You’ve got to stay in the seat, you can’t go to the bathroom without permission from the captain or the flight attendant, you’re served packaged food (if at all) in pouches. How…
Watching the closing courtroom scene of The Merchant of Venice , I was struck by how allegorical it is. First, there’s Antonio, threatened with death for a debt that really was incurred by Bassanio. Second, he’s threatened by a Jew. Third, Shylock says something like “his blood be on my…
Does the “foolishness of God” carry the connotation of “God playing the fool”? As in, God the jester? Is Paul saying that God the jester is wiser than the sages?
Further reflection on Scott: His anti-romanticism, as I suggested, is a common theme in early novel-writing. Defoe furnishes another example. Robinson Crusoe is warned by his father against running off to sea and seeking adventure, but Robin is unwilling to settle down to a boring middle-class life. Of course, when…
The church fathers went to great lengths to prove that Moses was both more antique than Greek sages, and also to show that the Greek sages were dependent on Moses. While historically plausible, these efforts a form of Christian apologetics done within the confines of pagan thought. The assumption is…
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